masterminis.net - where we learn to be a better painter!

Friday, August 31, 2012

This site is about how to learn to be a better painter. And what do we do when we think we are ready? Yes! We go to miniature painting competitions!

Many of you know about the Games Workshop "Golden Demon" competitions - but there are many, many more out there - some of them absolutely fantastic, too.

One of them is the Hussar 2012 which will take place in Warsaw, Poland on October 6th this year. It is the third event of this kind - and a rather large one, too. I personally have neither been to Poland nor to a painting competition specifically, but I am really lookin forward to going this year.

The first prize is something special: A paid return ticket to the Crystal Brush competition in the USA where the winner goes home with 10.000$! All of the other trophies look spectecular, too and will look great in anyones display case.

Maybe you would like to go, too - if you cannot go: Stay tuned for a detailed report of the event on this blog.

The Hussar website just came back after some technical issues. The gallery is still gone at the moment, but all the relevant information about when to be where can be found there.

A new, free downloadable magazine called KINETIC7 has been launched recently. The focus is skirmish games, but it also features great tipps & tricks on painting, converting and all the other good stuff that makes us all so nerdy :D

Some of the content includes:

- Features on Alkemy and 1650- Making plaster scenery Part 1- Sculpting a miniature Part 1- Painting tutorials- Q&A with Angel Giraldez- ...and much more

Thursday, August 30, 2012

As some of you know, I have just moved to Berlin. Some stuff is still in boxes, but my miniatures are all put away in many a shelf now... And as I opened the box called "unfinished miniatures, WIP" I thought about all the dreams I had for them: To bepart of my "wall of fame" one day.

But all they ever got to be was to be frozen in the continuous state of endless Work In Progress... So let me show you my "Wall of Shame" Miniatures - the dirty 18. Some of them are about 6 years old now. Many of them are workshop miniatures that I pledged to finish some day... At least I have them in a very visible and prominent spot in my hobby room as a constant reminder to finish something some day...

Do you have a "Wall of Shame" or do you always finish your minis?

If you have a photo of your "wall of shame", send it to masterminis <<at>> beeblebrox <<dot>> de. I will post them next week ;)

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Greetings my most excellent painters!Many of you have followed me on my personal account on facebook. I would like to separate my personal from my masterminis presence and thus have created a masterminis.net page. If you use Facebook and "like" the masterminis.net page, you will get your updates right there. If you like twitter, follow me here.

It is finally up - the first ever "Tutorial Tuesday" video. On Wednesday morning... As some of you know, my real computer blew up two weeks ago and I am now working on a very slow notebook... And since the tutorial video ended up being almost 40 minutes long, the rendering time was painful. The first of three parts went up at around 2am in the morning. I started the second part and went to bed ;)

But that is all history - the vids are up. Next time I will prepare them for monday, I did not expect to a) go so long on the explanation and b) that the rendering takes sooooo long on the notebook.

The first tutorial shows how to use a low-tech-approach on mold casting your own resin parts. No vaccuum or pressur chaimbers, just you and the materials! It still works very well for me.

If YOU have a question on painting - any question - please leave it in the comments below. I might chose it for next week's video tutorial!

Also, please leave comments on what you think about the first video - and your suggestions for improvements! Thank you!

Monday, August 27, 2012

Purple Alert: Miniature Painting Competition incoming! The Chest of Colors crew from Poland in colaboration with Two Hour Wargames has announced an online painting competition today. It has been 7 years since the last competition - hard to believe! Here a quick summary of the rules: - Theme: Fantasy gladiator arena - not historically correct- 28-32mm scale - has to be on base max 50mm- prove of miniature in unpainted state required- until September 26thI am sure this gives you the extra motivation for another masterpiece! Good luck to all of you!

Sunday, August 26, 2012

The 42 subscriber party hangover is almost history, and the 100 subscriber giveaway is already on its way. If you have missed it, check here for rules. There are just a few people missing until we hit that target, so follow this blog now, if you don't already do so!

The last miniature you could win was pretty rare, as you could only get it by travelling to Nottingham. The dwarf is currently traveling to Sevilla to serve his new master.

So this time, I thought about an even more spectecular miniature. One that you only can get by spending quite a bit of money on something you don't necessarily need... The white dwarf subscription miniature.

The winner will have the choice of one of the three miniatures below. All boxes are collectors boxes, unopened and (with exception of the blemishes on the gobbo box) in mint condition.

As soon as we hit 100 subscribers, I will determine the winner. ALL readers that subscribe on the day we hit 100 until midnight CET will take part (so it could be a handful over 100).

Event Coverage is a vital part of what I have planned for this blog. For 2012 I am planning to travel to and report from the follwoing events:

- Sep 23 - Games Day UK incl. Pre-GD-Dinner

- Oct 06 - Hussar (not 100% decided)

- Oct 14 - Scale Model Masters or GD Italy (
not 100% decided) .

- Oct 27 - Games Day France

- Nov 10 - Monte San Salvino

Depending on the technical capabilities of the sites, I plan to have some live-updates - at least on pictures and the like. A short video report on my YouTube channel is planned to be available no later than two days after the event.

Do you know of any other exciting events this year? Let me know, I might just go there ;)

Today we had a very creative and effective day in the nerd cave. Projects which may well be announced tomorrow were refined, orks painted, Tau finished. And this is the kind of music that got us through most of the day. Maybe it was Fausto's Blog that made us do this!Enjoy!

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Wow! Now, I am awake. I get up. Log on to the computer: masterminis.net - your blog has been removed. Youtube account: Your account has been removed. Picasaweb: Your account has been removed. Google Account: We detected some inappropriate use of your account, send SMS to this number and confirm the code. Well, that worked, got everything back up... But what a shock that was! I wonder what happened.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Tutorial Tuesday - Test video up!I just uploaded the first TEST video for the Tutorial Tuesday video tutorials. Content is quite basic - how to deassemble, clean and assemble your airbrush. The content is not really important in this video - its more all about overall quality, LIGHT, COLORS, SOUND and things such as background music. I would appreciate your feedback on this, so I can tweak it for the 'real' show next week. Please leave your comments here or on youtube. Thank you!

The blog is still very new and already got 11.000 views since last Monday. That is unbelievable to me! I never dreamed to have such a terrific start - thank you all so much!

I am very much interested in creating an entertaining and interactive blog as communication (among other things) is generally much more fun when there is more than one person involved...

In search of structure for my blog I am currently working on a weekly schedule of little "shows" (on top of any 'normal' project documentation) - if you ever watched Day[9]'s Starcraft Coverage you will know in which direction I am thinking (Funday Monday, Newbie Tuesday etc...). Now of course, I will come up with my own categories ;)

As you know, learning how to paint is not always easy. Not everyone of us knows multi-sword winning painting gods that show you everything they know in person. Articles and series' of photos in forums, magazines or books are a starting point, but are no replacement for someone showing you 'how its done'.

And since having someone show you how to do stuff is the best approach, this is exactly what I am going to do for you.

After all, "Tutorial Tuesday" has a nice ring to it, does it not? Its still a working title, but so far it sounds good to me.

Yesterday I jerry-rigged an old HD Camera over my Workspace (excuse the mess, I am still organizing my studio after the move to Berlin).

Later today I will post a quick test video on something meaningful... We'll see ;)

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

masterminis.net just had its first giveaway not even 24 hours ago and we are already doing the next one. Yes, we are insane and we love it!

The 42 Subscriber Giveaway closed yesterday and we ended up having 70 subscribers. Therefore, I must keep my promise and announce that - yes - we will have a 100 subscribers giveaway! And with things going the way they are, this might just be a few days away...

I think, I will find be able to find another precioussss prize in my vast stock of metal and plastic for you, don't panic ;)

So, if you would like to win something and have not subscribed yet, THIS is the time! As soon as the 100 subscribers are reached, I will give away the mini. Haste is in order!

Thank you so much for your support and good luck!

P.S.: I made the comment section more convenient for you to use, so give it a try ;)

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Forge World just confirmed rumors about an upcoming Horus Heresy Book in their latest newsletter. As all of their Imperial Armor books it can be expected to be quite glorious. As the biggest fanboy on this planet I am quite dizzy with anticipation.

The book is to be on sale at GD UK, September 23rd and will be presumably available in Forge World's online shop a few days later. Pricing information is not available, the previous Imperial Armor books ranged from 28 to 58 GBP. I would not be surprised to see the Horus Heresy at 60 quid...

Before we disclose the winner though, I would like to thank ALL of you for subscribing to my still young blog. When I left for a short three day trip last weekend I wished for the 42nd subscriber (which this giveaway was all about) and you gave me 70!

Monday, August 20, 2012

Nothing says "give me that demon!" like a well painted banner on a well painted miniature. Banners allow you to create an attractive focus point for the viewers. However, most banners that already come with miniatures are usually not up to the task of impressing anyone - they are usually either to thick, too flat or too static (mostly all of the above) to be interesting.

Wow! I just came back from a great sunny weekend at the beach and checked on whether we hit 42 subscribers or not - and what can I say! 64!! Thank you so much for putting yet another highlight on a perfect weekend. As promised, by midnight tonight, EVERY subscriber to this blog has a chance to win a mystery prize. It is so mysterious that even I do not know what it is yet :D But it will be nice, so don't worry. So, if you have not subscribed yet - now is the time ;) Good luck everyone! Here one more time the original "give away thread".

Some of the greatest painters are color blind - can you read whats in the circle? Post your comments below!

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Nooo, don't worry. I wont be giving away 42 followers, thats not what I meant...

Don't Panic! I won't give you away!

As most of you know, my avatar/nick has been "Zaphod Beeblebrox" since the dark age of the Internet - a time where even HTML did not exist yet and graphic cards made the display 80 characters instead of 40 characters wide...Nein, keine Angst. Ich werde keine 42 Follower weggeben, so war das nicht gemeint...

On a much brighter note, I have added sections for articles and event coverages which you can now find in the drop-down menu. This will make it easier for you to find certain tutorials and/or event coverage. I hope you like it.

Monday, August 13, 2012

For 8 days now we were on a painting-sleeping-only schedule that allowed us to sleep a maximum of 3 hours at night. Went to bed when the sun came up and started painting again for around 18-20 hours straight after 3 hours of rest. It was madness - and fun.